"This challenge is actually kind of simple. I know what Emarie likes. We have the same aesthetic, we have the same idea, we have the same vibe. It's like designing something for myself if I were a black girl."

Oh, honey. With that one sentence alone you confirmed the years and years you spent in front of a mirror lip synching to Destiny's Child.

We think these two have the cutest designer/model relationship. She quickly became very good at cutting him down when he gets a little too big for his britches and calming him down when he's heading for another melt down.

Model: Emarie Wiltz

Unfortunately, their collaboration resulted in this.

We have to say that loudmouth was right. That IS a cute purse.

We really can't add anything to what the judges said. It's a mess. We don't really get the "bridesmaid" slam. That's not quite true. We get it (mainly because of the color); it's just that it wouldn't have been the first thing to come to mind for us.

More like a walk of shame dress to us. Those frayed edges at the bust are the only interesting thing he did but unfortunately, because the rest of the dress is so sloppy-looking, the effect is muted. They could have looked cool and edgy if the rest of the dress was impeccably done.

But it's just such a wrinkled mess that anything of slight interest was lost.

Design-wise, it's not that bad. Yeah, a little basic and yeah, he could have chosen a slightly more sophisticated color, but for us, the very worst thing about it is that it looks like it was rolled up in a ball at the bottom of her hamper. Still, we get why they kept him over Qristyl. He at least tried to some minor things to jazz it up.

Here you go, ladies. Tom would like it known that he used to have a pair of silver jeans just like these and hung onto them for years, partly because he paid a shit ton of money for them and partly because he knew they'd come back in style some day. Unfortunately, by the time they came back in style, Tom realized he was a bit past the age when he could get away with silver jeans and not look pathetic. It was with great sadness that he had to let them go. Let that be a lesson to the babies out there: wear your silver jeans while you still can.

Now these two had a weird relationship, we thought. Then again, it seems like Logan has weird relationships with every model he's worked with so far. He almost seems scared of them. Granted, Kojii had some strange requests.

Model: Kojii Helnwein

But he really should have put his foot down at some point and asserted himself as the designer. Because kittens?

This was a mess.Once again, we have little to add to what the judges said. It does look like an old prom dress reimagined. Like Molly Ringwald if The Psychedelic Furs had recorded a song called Pretty in Blue.

Bleh. The skirt's too full and messy looking. And it looks like it should have a poodle appliqued onto it.

The only thing we kinda like is what he did around her waist there. It's a shame it got lost in all that heavy black lace. Again, we get why he was kept over Qristyl. It's not a good look by any means, but he tried to do something with an edge and she did a basic cocktail dress. Point of view wins out over boring every time on this show.

Still, he's no fool. He knew how to get out of an auf'ing. Lucky for him there was a horny stylist on the judging panel.

As usual, you two have managed to encapsulate my scattered thoughts about these two designs way better than I could try for.

The thing with Logan's dress is that it needed some teasing and it could have been very eye-catching in a room full of darker, trendier, haute dull clothes but he couldn't really break out of his box. Which is a shame because I don't know how much of that dress is his model's suggestions and how much is his talent.

I think the color of Johnny's dress actually IS sophisticated; it's the fabric that's all wrong. When are designers going to stop using fabrics that show every pucker & wrinkle? I don't get why they keep doing that.

I went to a wedding last spring that had dress almost EXACTLY like Johnny's dress. The same hideous color and weird frayed edges (although in the wedding's case it was "lace"). All the bridesmaid had to pay $400 for the dress and ended up looking like lumpy rotting eggplants. So I understand where the judges were coming from.

Logan's dress reminded me of Madonna circa 1980's. All she needed was black lace gloves and a bunch of cheap necklaces. I was actually surprised that he kept his model after that debacle.Johnny's dress was just a mess. 'Nuff Said.

The Go Fug Yourself girls have a feature they call Unfug It Up, and I think Logan's could have pretty easily been unfugged into something cool. Even if he felt he had to keep that heavy-looking black lace top, if the skirt had been a pencil skirt, even using the same materials, it would have been much better. The full skirt is really what ruins it and make is so prommy. Something sleeker and more form-fitting would have made Kojii look sexy, not hopelessly stuck in a John Hughes movie.

As soon as Jennifer Rade said he was cute, I knew Qristyl was toast. Ms. Rade was so inappropriate, I hope they never ask her back. Just awful. I hope she has the decency to be embarrassed in retrospect.

ITA with Gotham Tomato -- satin is the most unforgiving fabric. Every seam must be impeccable and the fit must be perfect or it will look horrid. The designers should know this, and avoid satin like the plague, but yet they keep going back to it. After 5 years of PR, they should know better.

The silver jeans crack me up. Even given the jeans, though, Logan doesn't seem to have a strong enough personality to assert a cohesive point of view as a designer.

Not only was Cruela inappropriate to Q, but her comments were demeaning to Logan who was there to be judged on his design, not his shiny pants (or what's in them). Still, I think his outfit was one hot mess and Johnny's looks like a wrinkled plum. I don't think Q's was any worse than either of them design-wise. I'm feeling bad for Logan though, caught between Khoji and Cruela, a no win situation if you ask me....

I was not thrilled with the loud mouth either, her critique was definitely energetic and she did have some good points for everyone, but...perhaps it is just me but I couldn't get over how rude and over the top she was.

It's so funny that three of these designers heard "party where a model should stand out" and designed low-end prom gowns. I'm talking about Logan, Johnny, and that Tinkerbell lampshade gown by... (Christopher?). Horrible

Horseface judge was a bitch to every single designer she commented on. With Logan, she was talking more about HER responsibility, HER job as a STYLIST, more than him as a designer. They let her ramble on way too long.Plus she looks like Weird Al Yankovich.Heidi should have taken control of that hag.

I don't know, I still think that Johnny's is the worst. I do like the frayed edges at the neck and armhole, but the whole dress is so sloppy that you can't tell if it's on purpose or a mistake! The fabric is just ugly and cheap looking. And there are too many design elements that are fighting one another (bad design). I also do not think the way he handled the shaping at the center front bust area is appropriate for a woven fabric. Second walk of shame dress that he's done. It must be his specialty.

I didn't hate Logan's dress. I like the skirt and I don't think the fabric would look that shiny or cheap under real life low light conditions (like at a party). The full skirt shows off her tiny waist in an extremely flattering way. I don't care for the lace overlay on the bodice, but the I do like the shape of it. Maybe if he had just suck with the blue on top. Not a winnner , but not a ticket home. Maybe the horndog called him out just to get a better look at him.

I actually don't hate either of these--Johnny's would be passable if it weren't rumpled like crazy--slightly bluer purple, I think, would also have helped.

With Logan, he's on the edge of something kind of interesting--if he'd been able to get the right lace--instead of that doubled-over mess and a less full skirt, wouldn't even have to be a pencil skirt, a less full A-line would work and a bit shorter. No petticoats. Just too much fabric overall.

The thing I found funny is that Khoji included leather as a possible fabric. He could have bought pleather and that probably would have been easier for him to work with then lace. With only a $100 budget, there's no way you are going to get good lace

Logan didn't get in trouble because he refused to put his foot down-- he got in trouble because he took Kojii's dress request and implemented it really badly. He could have done an awesome job with what she wanted, as the judges noted, but his lack of experience in working with that kind of aesthetic was what brought him down. Kojii's a singer in a rock band, and I do recall Chris say something about Logan having a "rock" approach. You'd have thought he could figure out what to do for her better than that.

Johnny's dress was lots worse than Q's. Maybe it was just time to send another female home. 3 men in a row and people might start to suspect that the boyz have no skillz.

I'm a little more afraid for PR after this week. If Michael has really left I don't know how it will survive. The consistency of Michael's and Nina's points of view meant that the contestants only had to worry about whatever whack guest judge was there. Heidi seems to have wrested judging control. Not good.

I was really glad they kept Logan, not because I liked his outfit this week (though I did think the top part was interesting) but because I want to see what else he's going to do, because the whole idea of a sorta grunge-metal (and probably straight) designer just intrigues me. Plus a couple of the other things he did I did like (the top on last week's "avant garde" dress, and despite its simplicity the maternity outfit he did was fairly nice).

Johnny keeps making simple but messy things and not impressing me, really, and if he'd gone instead of Q, I would not have really cared.

Entertainment on a weekend! You are making it so commonplace that we are going to forget to be grateful.

O.k., I can grudgingly accept that from-the-point-of-view-of-the-notoriously-inconsistent-and-arbitrary judges, Johnny "tried" to be what? - because it wasn't innovative, trendy OR attractive - something more than Qrystil attempted. And therefore he stayed.

But I still would have auffed him. The brief was to make the model stand out at an industry party that was something of an informal go-see. Q's model at least looked good, if not eye-catching. Johnny's model looked dumpy and lumpy and frumpy. Complete Absolute Epic Fail.

This is hilarious, boys!!Man, I thought Mean Judge was going to do Logan right there and then. IMHO, I think Hot Pants had the worst outfit, but of course he wasn't going home. His dress looked like the inside of a chocolate box.

I guess Logan is one of the finalists? I don't get it, wasn't this show filmed a year ago? Why is Logan twitting about showing his collection NOW? I thought they all had shown their collections but they didn't reveal the names of the designers? I am sooo confused!

Ya know, Isabella et al, I just don't get the Logan Love - and that's not a bad thing. If we all had the same interests, there would only be a few happy people in a world full of mean & horny malcontents -- you know, Jennifer Rades.

I can see where Khojii is coming from with her aesthetic - she has just the face for a member of the French Resistance, appearing out of dark alleyways, wearing a trench coat and hat, with a cigarette dangling from her ruby lips. I agree that if the skirt had been much narrower and tighter it would have fit in with the 40s thing she's got going much more.

Her body's quite weirdly proportioned though, with a very long body (particularly round the neck) and short legs, and I don't think that helped the dress at all.

Mood LA - no, it's the actual Mood they are going to - more space than NYC and less fabrics. located at Pico and La Cienega --even *you* can stop in. same place, as seen on tv. seems like a weird decision for a location since it's miles and miles from FIDM downtown. and fabric-storing in the actual fabric district can be amazing... but all those rumors about a satellite store haven't yet proven true. unless they matched the real LA store with a fake one, like the Parsons runway was duplicated at FIDM....

Frank is right about getting good lace on a budget. I know I am dating myself but I made a dress to wear to President Clinton's inauguration in 1992 and I spent a hundred bucks on a yard of nice lace for the bodice. Thankfully the shoulder pads were pretty affordable.

Still, I think it was the skirt and not the top of Logan's dress that looked prommy.

I collect and sell vintage clothing, so was hopeful that Logan would kick ass with his 50s reinterpretation for Kojii. I was appalled when she appeared on the runway in this mess.

A big part of the problem that the judges never commented on was the silhouette of the skirt. He took the wrong approach with the crinolines - the full 50s skirt is supposed to make the waist look tiny and camouflage the hips by swinging out from the waist to the hem. His skirt is thick and wadded up looking just below the waist, making her lower abdomen and hips look enormous. It reminds me of how we Catholic school girls must have looked back in the 60s when we would roll up our pleated skirts into minis after we left the house for school. Not a flattering look.

a typed Has anyone else been experiencing this this blog loading very, very slowly (like several minutes over a high-speed connection) and getting stuck / hanging?

It would be a lot more helpful if you mention what browser you're using and what operating system.

I'm using Safari on OS 1.5.x and the newer Adobe Flash for Macs is terrible (and all the embedded video clips are Flash).

I've ended up just turning flash off in my preferences for Safari *and* FireFox until Adobe finally coughs up a decent Flash plug-in.

If you *do* have a Mac, I'd suggest installing ClickToFlash plug-in. It'll download the web page, along with greyed-out boxes where Flash content is but not load it... but will give you the option of clicking on the Flash window to actually download the clip you want to see.

It makes coming to this site a pleasure rather than a total pain as my browser freezes and I have to hard restart :::sigh:::.

Paola: I can see where Khojii is coming from with her aesthetic - she has just the face for a member of the French Resistance, appearing out of dark alleyways, wearing a trench coat and hat, with a cigarette dangling from her ruby lips.

That is such a good call. Khojii looks like the *dame* in an old film noir movie.

I detect the elves, or their Lifetime cousins... trolls, perhaps? It was time to auf a woman, just to keep the gender balance even. Qwristyll (thank the trolls I'll never have to attempt spelling THAT again) was the obvious choice, and she helped by making a boring LBD.

Logan seems like the kind of guy who's gotten by on lots of looks, plenty of easy-going charm, and a bit of talent. He'll have to step it up and grow a pair if he wants to stay in the competition. He should have told Kujoji to zip it at some point and wear what HE wanted to design.

Poor Johnny isn't going to last much longer. I hope it doesn't drive him back to whatever substance he was abusing. He's a nice man, but the women are going to mow him down...

Horseface--hahah! She said that ultimately your goal is to please yourself. Huh? If you want more clients, shouldn't a designer ultimately be concerned with pleasing the client??? Maybe once you've made a name for yourself you can think - what the hell? Who cares if its wearable - everyone loves me anyway! But not when you are trying to establish yourself. Especially if you are doing custom stuff. And what if your customer is a celeb? Hello!!! Please the client!

I loved Logan's dress. It was happy, bouncy, and youthful. The bodice could have used work, and the skirt needed pressing, but it had personality. It was definitely a "Look at me!" dress and Kojii worked it well.

Jennifer Rade seemed to think this was one of those E Channel red carpet recap shows where the commentators talk over each other and make the most outrageously catty comment to steal camera time. She disrespected the etiquette of being a guest judge on Project Runway and seemed not to care in the least that her mandate was to engage in a collaborative judging process. Of the GARMENTS.

To be fair, though, this isn't the first time a judge complimented a designer's own outfit. (Remember Nina famously saying she liked Kara Janx's own wrap dress more than the dress on her model?) However, this is the first time a Project Runway judge has also veered into cougar-land with that "Do me now! Do me now!" glaze-y eyed heat. Ewwwww.

these were both bad, but neither was as heinous as some things on PR have been. They were just blah and poorly-executed and nothing special.

Logan has a perplexing accent, or speech pattern, or something - it was distracting me this episode, trying to figure out if he is just a sleepy soft-talker, or if he maybe isn't a native english-speaker. anyone know??

i googled around for some bio info, but couldn't come up with much, except that he claims to like to be alone.

and Nicolas TOTALLY has silver pleather shorts somewhere, probably with a silver feather vest to wear with them.

kittens not kids said...Logan has a perplexing accent, or speech pattern, or something - it was distracting me this episode, trying to figure out if he is just a sleepy soft-talker, or if he maybe isn't a native english-speaker. anyone know??

Logan was born and raised in Blackfoot, Idaho (south eastern Idaho near Pocatello). I have visited an Uncle & cousins there over my whole life and I have never heard any accent like his - so I've got no clue where that came from. His bio says he lives in Seattle, but I don't recognize that as a Seattle accent either.

I think they're not filming inside the real Mood: Uncle Nick made remarks along those lines recently plus there were rumors during filming about not being able to shoot there. Maybe the writers' strike protests that went on then were too disruptive? (wasn't there incident at Kors' store?... I'm too lazy to look it up!) Notice they're never filmed from the outside entering/leaving the store.

Ellen M said...I think, of the bottoms, Logan's was the worst. But there were a couple of bad ones in the top and the middle, too.

I thought his bottom was actually very nice.

And bottoms, bad *or* good, shouldn't be top or middle.

Although, looking at some of the designer's tailoring skills and construction, you'd think they didn't all know this... . Althea's top *was* pretty ass, after all, while Johnny's middle was pretty rump-led.

OK. Sorry, sorry. I'm writing this at 3:37AM and should obviously have gone to bed two glasses of wine ago.

can someone please explain to me how the guy who talked about being a man's man and who likes fixing up cars and whatever but doesn't know what a 50's dress is supposed to look like?he was prolly handed the easiest challenge by his model than anyone else but somehow doesn't know how to make a fit and flair 50's dress?it might just be one of the simplest classic forms of the past century, should have been easy, not only to design and make, but to design, make and please his client/model...but at least it wasn't plain and black...

Call me crazy too because I liked the TOP of Johnny's dress. I like dresses I can wear a bra with if I choose to. I did not like the skirt but the skirt could easily be modified. If ever there was a right time for short, tight and shinny, this was THE challenge.

Maggie at RagsRags said:It reminds me of how we Catholic school girls must have looked back in the 60s when we would roll up our pleated skirts into minis after we left the house for school. Not a flattering look.-------------Did we go to the same Catholic school? We couldn't WAIT to get out of school for the day so we could shorten up those skirts, but we had ugly blazers to cover the waist bulges. On topic, though...I disliked both of these designs. I'm tired of Pretty Boy and Recovery Boy.

For me if Logan hadn't used an iridescent fabric it would have looked a million times less prom and costumey. Also the colour sucked ass.

Another thing is I was quite surprised by Koji's requests...I hadn't gotten a vintage vibe off her at all from what she's worn on MOTR so far. Something more modenr with an asian feel a-la James Paul would have worked better for her look given the nature of the event she is supposedly attending.

It's sad that both Pex and Johnny's model had to look like "lumpy eggplants" and sadder still that Pex had to pay $400 for the privilege.

http://www.davidsbridal.com

I didn't see the extended review, but I hope Qristyl got the chance to defend herself a bit more. What is worse? "Aging your model" or making her look fat, unkempt or cheap? One judge's "aging" is another observer's "sophisticated." I would agree had the model been Miley Cyrus, but she's an adult woman who should be perfectly capable of carrying off a more sophisticated look.

Johnny's and Logan's models looked ridiculous.

"Please the client."

My ass. Women shop for themselves every day and, theoretically, buy things that please them. And they look horrendous. No. I would turn to a designer or stylist to maximize my assets and play down my defects.

The designers asked all the wrong questions (what do you want, what don't you want...) when they should have asked, "what body part do you hate and what body part has everyone told you to emphasize?" And "What color makes you look like death?" That's it. You do the rest. She might WANT a jumpsuit, but if she's got killer gams, she's getting a dress. She might WANT to look like a punk, but she's going to an "industry event" and if punk isn't the rage, she doesn't need to look ridiculous. She can look like that on her own time.

Ok, I may get slammed for this but I really liked the dress Logan made (though admittedly, there were some execution issues). It was fun and creative, and I like the colors. And Kojii looked great in it.BTW, I am a huge Kojii fan. She is my favorite of all the models. Though I might be biased due to my Irish heritage...

However, considering that a model's job is to wear clothes, even the whiff of a refusal should be an automatic "Sayonara,sister!". You know if McQueen had a whole "dyed in a toilet tank" series these girls would be killing each other to wear it on the runway.

Johnny's run so far: he had one of the highest scores in Episode 1, was part of the general 'in' on Episode 2 and was did well on the team challenge with Irina in Episode 3.

SpellCheQ's run so far: she was one of the lower scores on Episode 1, was in the general 'in' on Episode 2 and was in the lower scores on Episode 3's team challenge, both in design and teammanship (is that even a word?).

For the confines of this week's challenge, I could understand why SpellCheq's design auf'ed her (terrible track record established in only 3 episodes, boring colour and fabric, not a dynamic look, awful styling).

Johnny wins points just because of his run to this date - meaning he's shown promise. I liked his dress less than Logan's but I can see why he'd stick around.

Logan wins points just because of his run to this date - he's been consistently mid-pack and his design (or his model's design... hard to tell) had potential and, gasp!, colour. Really like his model's 'vibe', too.

I wonder what the guest judges get in terms of pre-show rundowns on each designer. Are they just watching the challenges 'cold' and without any context or are they basing part of their decisions on what the designer's done on the show so far?

No wonder that neoprene dress looked like it had been peed on! Weren't there any wash basins or sinks around? It would have been better to put the dye in a container and just splash it on to the dress rather than use the toilet.

I can't believe that the producers didn't use all the drama of a model refusing to wear a design! Tim mentioned it as one of the highlights of the season. I know they had a lot of drama on this show, but it seems like a sure-fire piece of footage to include.

Is Kojii Irish? I know she is from Ireland, but her last name doesn't sound Irish to me. (Who knows about her first name.)

Lilithcat 9/12/09 6:12 PM I think I need to visit the ear doctor. I could have sworn I heard Heidi say that Johnny's dress was too short! That can't be right, can it?

Haha! I played that twice myself to verify I heard it correctly.

I likrf Johnny's (and I throught he was reallky bad the first week.) Yes it needed pressing. I liked the color alot - for the people who didn't, what colors are ok because black and brown are ripped a lot, and others hated the green. And whileike TLo and the judges liked that frayed trim at the neck -WHAT is so hot about makeing the trim look like the salvage end?

I thought that the biggest problem with Logan's was too much tulle too high up and too much lace

Ugh, I don't know which of these two dresses I hated the most. 1980s prom dress or tacky Walk of Shame dress (good one!)

I still think one of these should have gone instead of Q. I do realize that the challenge was to make something eye-catching to make the models stand out in a crowd. Granted, either of these two dresses would do that, but not in a good way. I stand behind my theory that boring is better than ugly.

Re: that guest judge and Logan, this may seem mean, but I think it's the funniest thing to see a man squirm uncomfortably when being objectified by a woman. Poor Logan, he looked mortified, but I was cracking up.

"by the time they came back in style, Tom realized he was a bit past the age when he could get away with silver jeans and not look pathetic" -- at least tom has enough taste to realize that after a certain age one tends to look pathetic in some of that type of "statement" clothing...

as for the reviews of the challenge garments, i agree with tlo's assessment....both were messy and could have looked better with impeccable construction. i didn't mind the color on johnny's dress, but the fabric really was a wrinkled mess. loved the color on logan's, but the lace ruined it and the skirt was just too full.

Meow indeed. Logan did save himself with the silver pants. God bless him.

And walk of shame is exactly what I was thinking about Johnny's dress. Remember going to those sorority/frat parties in college and staying out all night and then going back to the dorm looking like that? Ah, memories . . .